2019 Education Year in Review

Greetings!

My name is Heather Casper and I have been the Curator of Education at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum since 2007.  I am charged with interpreting our fantastic collections in a variety of ways to enable visitors of all ages and abilities to make meaningful connections with our artworks, and experience the joy that art can bring into our life. As 2019 comes to a close, I am happy to report that all things education-related at MMAM have grown and flourished over the last year. Below, I’ve highlighted a couple of my favorite public programs, gallery resources, and school touring successes from the past 12 months.    

Our public programs for 2019 included: Toddler Tuesdays, Art-Venture family art-making program, Art of Living/Riding the Wave art therapy program, an adult lecture series, adult art-making workshops, and two arts access programs, Second Saturdays and SPARK! 

Our most successful public program of 2019 was far and away our Second Saturday arts access program. This was made possible by a generous grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, and offered $1 admission for all on the Second Saturday of each month. We hosted eleven Second Saturday programs in 2019 and served exactly 6295 people!  We heard from more than 20% of those visitors who graciously filled out surveys and were thrilled to learn that 28% of survey respondents had never visited the Museum before a Second Saturday program and another 37% had visited, but “it had been a while.” We were happy to welcome so many new faces to the Museum and look forward to their return.  

The program that is most near and dear to my heart is our monthly SPARK! program for people living with memory loss and their care partners. This group feels like a group of friends reuniting each month and it is a pleasure to hang out together in the galleries and beyond. This year we enjoyed live music, a boat ride on the Mississippi, some hand massages from massage therapy students, and lots of coffee and treats.  

Gallery resources help our everyday visitor better connect to the artworks. We always offer audio tours, self-guided tour cards, gallery bingo, and a robust family reading area with titles in English, Hmong, Spanish, and Braille that relate to our collections and exhibitions.  Additionally, we create exhibition specific “Discovery Docks” that engage visitors with certain aspects of specific exhibitions or single artworks. My favorite Discovery Dock of 2019 was the Join the Conversation visitor response activity. Visitors answer questions regarding specific paintings with the opportunity to share their idea We’ve had hundreds of interesting responses. Seeing this wall full of Post-it Note reponses reminded me that art is a wonderful way to honor and unite the many different ways that every human being perceives reality.   

For the last decade, we have served around 1500-2000 K-12 students each year on school tours. These students typically jump off the yellow school bus and head into the Museum’s atrium in a big cluster of energy and excitement. Each group brings its own joys. The itty-bitty 3 and 4 year old preschoolers are amazed by the space itself and notice things that most of us walk right by. I appreciate their fresh eyes and am always reminded to pay better attention to all of the wonders that this museum holds. During grade-school tours, we sit with groups in front of one painting for roughly 20-minutes and learn to look and explore the artwork as a group. I have sat in front of some of the artworks in our collections more than 100 times, yet I nearly always hear a new comment or am surprised by an astute observation. I have seen these field trip experiences reach students not otherwise engaged, through bridging the broad spectrum of learning styles. I thank the teachers that take the time and energy to bring their students to the Museum on a field trip.  

As we begin the next decade of museum education here at MMAM, I am hopeful that we will engage more people and extend the opportunity to enable the joys of art. None of these programs would be possible without the support from donations and grants. Help us make that possible by considering a donation to our annual Anchor Campaign.  

Thank you, and here’s to more art-ventures in 2020!

Heather Casper

Curator of Education